A key difference is that because of decreased activity at the Mount Tom coal plant on Route 5, the city will get $20 million less in revenue than a year ago from personal property such as machinery taxed at the plant, Dulude said.

It was the assessors’ hearing, but it also served as a chance for business and home owners to urge city councilors to vote certain ways on setting the tax rate. Ten of the 15 councilors attended.

The city has a split tax rate, meaning there are different rates at which residential property is taxed compared to commercial property.

The current tax rates are $15.78 per $1,000 valuation for residential property and $37.08 per $1,000 valuation for commercial and industrial property.

Holyoke’s business tax rate is the second highest in the state behind Springfield’s. That hurts the city’s ability to compete for new businesses and the revenue and jobs they bring, some speakers said.

“We need to make it easier for businesses that are going to pay taxes to come to Holyoke,” said Helene A. Florio, of 31 Wellesley Road.

Jeff Aldrich, owner of the Eighty Jarvis Restaurant at 80 Jarvis Ave., suggested the city set a different tax rate for small businesses. It is unfair to tax a small business the same rate as a large business like an industry, he said.

“The possibility of another tax rate would promote and support small business in Holyoke,” Aldrich said.

Robert Sylvester of Hazen Paper Co., 240 South Water St., urged officials to remember his company must compete not only locally but worldwide to sell its product.

“We have to keep track of every nickel and dime,” said Sylvester, Hazen chief financial officer.

Thomas Accomando recently moved to a home at 28 Mayer Drive. He works as administrator at the Holyoke Health Care Center, 282 Cabot St., which he said employs 154 people and does pay taxes. He wants the city to succeed, he said, and that entails a lower business property tax.

“I’m now part of your city and let’s make it work,” Accomando said.

Councilors Kevin A. Jourdain and Linda L. Vacon said taxes could drop if more councilors supported cuts to reduce spending when the budget is prepared every spring. The budget is more than $120 million.

Jourdain argues yearly that business is more able to absorb higher taxes than the many homeowners here such as senior citizens who are on fixed incomes. If the city’s business tax rate is so unattractive, he said, why are casino gambling companies eager to build here now that the state has legalized gaming.

The city spends money to help business such as with infrastructure improvements and plans for $6 million in parking garage upgrades, he said.

“This is why the tax rate is what it is,” Jourdain said.

Robert W. Gilbert Jr. of the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce said some businesses are recession-proof. Casinos know gamblers will always gamble, said Gilbert, who said the point is the city cannot keep blunting its appeal to new businesses by having such a high tax rate.

“You need to be committed to a long-term strategy that’s going to work,” Gilbert said.

Most objectionable to Richard L. Theroux, of 191 Brown Ave., and others was that more than 40 percent of business and commercial property here is owned by tax-exempt groups. Those include social service agencies, hospitals, churches.

But the tax-exempts still get services like police protection and plowed streets, Theroux said.

“Something’s got to be done,” Theroux said.

A property tax task force that Mayor Elaine A. Pluta formed a year ago will release its report Thursday. Among the issues it will address is dealing with tax-exempt groups such as by pursuing payments in lieu of taxes, Jourdain said.